I was on my way home my two bags and Violin in hand. I had spent the afternoon with Rodger as he insisted on buying us dinner to celebrate the action figures and now night had fallen.
Sitting on the bus I looked out at the streets the lights glowing a warm orange when my nose twitched. I noticed a strange smell begin to waft around the bus. It was familiar and I had smelt it recently.
'Wolfsbane?' I questioned my senses 'why would I be smelling wolfbane, unless…' I looked into the little mirror the driver used to see down the bus and nodded. Three of the hunters had followed me, two guys and the loudmouth woman. I rolled my eyes and darted off the bus as the doors were closing a few stops early. I didn't hang around. As the three tried to come after me I darted down a side alley and took a sharp left past the Watchdogs.
The Watchdogs were a group of were-folk that grew up in the city without a pack as they didn't have an Alpha. They were an organized group of outcasts, no pack rogues and the basic rogues that had joined together to become the protectors of the city streets.
Many of the Watchdogs were werewolves and in wolf form looked like scruffy street dogs. I saw their heads snap up as they growled. This didn't worry me as I had grown up on these streets too and had saved a few of them on many occasions and my face and red hair was well known around here.
"Sorry boys, Hunters are near." I gave them the heads up and the biggest of the bunch howled the alarm. I slipped into the shadows and watched as the Watchdogs prepared for an ambush. Although not trained like normal pack's warriors the Watchdogs specialised in urban warfare and taking out hunters in close quarters. Against a regular pack out in the open they would have little chance of winning but within the city's back ways they were the top predators.
The three hunters came around the corner and straight into two of the Watchdogs the others having vanished. As the fight began, I watched in admiration as the Watchdogs silently took out one of the Hunters then began to rip the second one to shreds in an all-out attack. It was like the shadows themselves had grown teeth and with little sound the second hunter died as a large cat jumped on his back and pushed him into the open jaws of a wolf.
The third Hunter, the woman, managed to jump to a fire escape and darted up and away as two large werecats gave chase. As the watchdogs began to dispose of the bodies down a sewer grate, I made my hasty departure. The sounds coming out the manhole were enough to deter me from ever wanting to know what they kept down there.
With a slump I began to walk the rest of the way to my apartment. It was a warm night but the cold of the coming winter had begun to creep in as the nights steadily got cooler. The cold never bothered me though, possibly cause I was half werewolf. My nose tingled and I sneezed.
'Fucking wolfsbane' I looked around as the female hunter dived at me. Quickly I darted away creating space and she glared at me.
"Think you're so fucking smart?" I shrugged.
"No, you were just that dumb to walk straight into a trap." She let out an angry grunt and dived at me again and I kicked her sharply as I slipped away from her.
"We had a good thing going, until you showed up and ruined it." I rolled my eyes.
"I hear that a lot... What did I ruin this time?" She snarled and dived at me causing me to drop my bags as I was forced to defend myself.
"Those brats were supposed to die like the Beta," I slammed the hard case of the violin into her face with a little force and she staggered back.
"Let me guess, take out the kids then go after the Alpha? Did you try to take out his girlfriend too?" She rolled her eyes.
"Treacherous bitch! It took us a month to set up this operation." She dived at me again then tossed a small vile into my face as she pulled away. I sneezed and wiped the liquid off my face then looked at the confusion on hers.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but silver and wolfsbane only work on werewolves." I saw the look of shock on her face.
"You're not a werewolf?" She cursed loudly then turned and ran off into the night. I frowned then looked back as three of the Watchdogs began to approach.
"Stay back!" I called. "I'm covered in silver and wolfsbane solution. It'll melt the skin off you if you touch it."
"Yeah, we know." One of them grumbled as he stood naked before me. "Hey Dan… Why were hunters after you?" He frowned as I shrugged.
"I interfered with their plans. Seems they're going after the Swift Runners by taking out the Alpha's cubs" He nodded. "Have you guys heard anything?" He thought for a moment then shrugged.
"There was talk about the Lightfoot Pack being taken over a few months ago and a very dangerous pack immerging from the west in the Blue Moon Canyons, thankfully they have been staying out of the city. But nothing about hunters in the area... It was believed they were to stay out of the city for this month." He smirked. "Can't trust a hunter." The rest of the Watchdogs nodded. A large cat came over and transformed. She rubbed her shoulders.
"The bitch got away." I nodded.
"And the local packs are all quiet." He finished and I nodded grabbed my bags as the cat woman wrapped her arms around the werewolf. I knew it was normally frowned upon in Packs to mate with an outside were-creature, and this was why a few Watchdogs had gone rogue, but it never bothered me. I said my goodbyes and left making short work of the distance between me and my apartment.
Inside I bolted to the shower to washed the solution, the hunter had flung at me, off. Although it couldn't hurt me like it did a full werewolf it could cause irritation after prolonged contact, and it still stunk like shit. I scrubbed up until I felt clean then walked out of the shower with a towel over my shoulders and stood staring at the violin case. I opened it and grinned at the violin. With a final ruffle of the towel, I dried myself then pulled the violin out and began to play.
By the time I was done my hair had dried completely and the night air was beginning to grow cold. I put the violin down into the case then frowned as something crumbled off the outside of the case. I took a closer look and saw blood. Taking an empty coin bag from the drawer on my desk I scraped the blood into the bag and sniffed it.
'The Hunter…' when I struck her with my case I must have done so harder than I thought. I didn't care if I had killed her but getting rid of the body would have been trouble, then again the watchdogs would probably have dropped her down the sewers. I sighed and took another sniff of her dried blood committing it to memory, after all she was still out there. Closing the bag I grabbed my phone and called Jenny.
"Hi, what's keeping you up?" I heard her on the other end.
"I wanted to check in with you. Did you find the Alpha?" she giggled.
"Yes, Derik was walking along the road naked back towards the pack house." I grinned.
"What happened to the bag he takes?" She sighed.
"He forgot and only took his phone… He keeps it in a little bag around his neck encase of emergency's." I nodded.
"Look, I'm calling because I was attacked by three of the hunters."
"Oh my goddess, Danica are you all right?" I sighed as I heard Mathew in the background.
"I'm fine. The watchdogs took care of two of them but that female hunter was in the mall. She basically let slip that they were after the Alpha and his kids. They were meant to die tonight. Oh and she said something about killing the Beta." There was a whine and I heard Mathew in the background as he jumped out of bed.
"I'm putting you on speaker."
"She basically said I ruined their plans that took a month of planning. So somehow, they knew the boys were going to be out without their dad's protection."
"Did you get a name?" I sighed.
"No, the Watchdogs turned up and chased her away."
"I see… Who're these Watchdogs." I laughed.
"They're a group of were-creatures that keep the peace on the streets. Basically, a gang turned vigilante. Anyway, I was just giving you a heads up. And… are you able to get a hold of the other Beta? You said Mathew was the second and since I can hear him..." Jenny mumbled.
"Yeah, Mat is calling him now. He and his mate were going on holiday…" There was a muttered conversation. "We'll send people to check on them. Their phones are off." I nodded.
"As long as everything turns out well."
"Thanks Dan, we'll let the Alpha know." And with that I hung up and went to bed.